Opening: Inferno by 9mm Parabellum Bullet
The Slayer followed behind his Kasugai Crow for several hours until he had arrived at the Swordsmith Village. Considering he was going to replace his blade, he gave Rengoku back his sword. Upon arriving at the village, he was greeted by the sight of everyone wearing stylized pink masks like Sagetsu, every single person in the village had their faces obscured.
The village was hidden within a large forest packed to the brim with humongous trees. It's no wonder ordinary folk get lost in the forest and require assistance. All of the wooden buildings within the village were just as tall as the trees and were built with the environment in mind. Various rocks were taken advantage of to great effect to create pathways or used to support buildings as a foundation. "Efficient" is the best way to describe the town, no rock or space was left unused. At least the people here are productive with their resources.
The Slayer's vulture swooped down low, latching onto the man's arm as he raised it. The Vulture informed the warrior, "Go straight ahead! The Chief is waiting for you!" The Slayer nodded, ushering for the creature to take its leave now that its duty is fulfilled. The warrior was able to quickly discern where he needed to go and was soon in the presence of the village chief who had two bodyguards (from the looks of it) next to him. They were inside the chief's room where the older man conducted his business.
The village chief, Tecchin Tecchikawahara, began with the introductions. He is a tiny, elderly man that has his face obscured by his own pink mask. He wears a simple kimono with a black haori over it (both sewn to accomodate for the man's size). He spoke up, "So, that youngster, Ubayashiki, tells me that you're the Hellwalker from that silly fairy tale, is that right?" The Slayer nodded, hoping they could get this over with and the Slayer could be on his way with his new Nichirin Blade. "Well, you're certainly not the man I had envisioned you to be, but I suppose it is what it is." The warrior crossed his arms out of annoyance. "We will inform Sagetsu as soon as possible, he should have a replacement ready for you. Until then, feel free to take a dip in our hot springs, they do wonders for the body."
The Slayer began to exit the room and once he opened the doors, he heard something stampeding towards him. He turned to see Sagetsu blazing down the streets of the village as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "MISTER HELLWALKERRRRRR!" The masked man attempted to stop himself but that only resulted in an embarrassing tumble as the man rolled past the Doom Slayer. It took the swordsmith zero seconds to get back up and grab the large warrior as he attempted to shake him ferociously, " COMEWITHMECOMEWITHMECOMEWITHME! You're going to LOVE what I came up with!" Looks like Sagestu was as enthusiastic as always.
Sagetsu couldn't stop moving, even when he was standing still, he had to be pacing or hopping in some way to keep himself moving. It's a mystery how he doesn't get tired. Sagetsu was so excited, in fact, that they sprinted back to his house. This wasn't an issue for the Doom Slayer but it speaks volumes about the man's energy and the fact that he doesn't have the patience to even walk back peacefully. What was this ground-breaking creation that Sagetsu was so excited about? Sagetsu's excitement started to rub off on the Slayer who was also anticipating what the man had created.
They arrived at a small shed that belonged to Sagetsu and upon entering, the Slayer was greeted to the unholy mess that was the man's room. The floor was covered in metal bits and broken blades. It wasn't even neatly organized in one spot, it was as if Sagetsu just randomly tossed the swords away as if they were trash. While the Slayer was busy looking at the mess left behind by Sagetsu, the swordsmith was opening a large chest which had another chest in it. The Slayer began to wonder if Sagetsu was the incarnation of "overdoing it". Once the second chest was open, Sagetsu took out an object which was obscured by a piece of cloth that was neatly wrapped around an object. Once uncovered, Sagetsu revealed to the Slayer a modified version of his Doom Blade.
Sagetsu stormed over, bestowing the man his blade as if he was a knight granting his sword to the king. The Doom Blade had an extra layer over it, the sharp edge of the Doom Blade had a metallic covering over it that was also sharp. This fascinated the Doom Slayer as he looked at this metallic (presumably Nichirin) covering on the Doom Blade. Sagetsu explained with a rapid tone, barely taking pauses between his words, "How do you like it?! I tried so hard to break down and understand that arm blade of yours, but it's craftsmanship is so superb that I didn't dare touch it any more! I tried to recreate it, but everything else I came up with was absolute trash! That's why the floor's messy by the way. They all just broke like matchsticks, let me tell you! I don't understand why they make Nichirin so cheap, if god wanted to give us demon-killing metal, then make it durable, dammit! Your blade is indestructible, probably more durable than me! That's when I came up with a brilliant solution! Instead of trying to recreate it, why don't I just add onto it? The idea was that it would retain the properties of a Nichirin Blade while still keeping its durability in-tact! The result is THIS masterpiece before you! I welded a sheet of Nichirin Metal on-top of your sword so that it wouldn't break but can still do its job!"
The Slayer took the blade out of the man's hands, carefully inserting the Doom Blade into the socket. Once he flipped the switch, he retracted the blade back and forth multiple times to see if it worked. Sagetsu was quite a talented swordsmith, he even kept in mind that the Slayer had a sliding mechanism for his arm blade so he sought to make the sheet thin enough to fit but still capable of doing its job. If there's anything that the Slayer likes, it's efficiency, and guns.
Sagetsu's voice was very weak now, his hands shaking as he called out, "W-what do you think? I hope you like it." The warrior was impressed enough with the man's work to give his thumbs up of approval to which the man exploded with energy once more. Sagetsu got on his knees and shouted as loud as he could, "YEEEEESSSSS! MY SUFFERING IS OVER! NOW I CAN ACTUALLY SLEEP AT NIGHT!" While the man was celebrating his victory, the Slayer took notice of the various weapons hanging on the wall. Some of these weapons were very unorthodox, likely, they were experimental weapons he never got to test. Sagetsu stopped when he noticed the warrior point towards the weapon rack on his wall and he explained, "Oh, that? Well, like I said last time, I don't get hired enough for work. In the meantime, I make random stuff to try and experiment with. I love making weapons so doing this is a hobby for me, unfortunately, it's all about those Nichirin Blades and whatnot, cuz, apparently, that's hot."
That is peculiar, if Sagetsu has enough Nichirin lying around where he can just casually produce unused experimental weapons on the fly, that must mean the village has an easy access to the ore. The Slayer looked around the man's room to see his assortment of tools. Sure, they're primitive compared to what he's used to, but at least he knows how to use them. That's when the Slayer got an idea he told Sagetsu, "So you like to make weapons, huh? Give me some Nichirin, I'll show you what you can do with it."
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In Immora, the Dark Lord was overseeing the construction of his new weapon. He was inside of a large facility with hundreds of workers cooperating to build the weapon. Davoth watched through a window in a separate room, gazing upon his magnificent creation. The Marauder stood at attention next to his master. The demon moved his arms, it was as if moving felt stiff and uncomfortable to the demon. Davoth took notice and asked the Marauder, "Are you growing accustomed to the power I gave you?"
The demonic night sentinel clenched his fist, answering, "Yes, my lord. It has proven quite useful with my recent battles. However, that doesn't bother me."
"Then what does?"
The Marauder and the Dark Lord looked at each other through the reflection of the window with the Marauder answering, "Why did you choose me? You could have bestowed your essence upon anything else." Davoth chuckled slightly, turning around to make direct eye contact with his underling as he responded:
"You possess a rage unlike any other, a rage that rivals the Hellwalker. With that rage comes potential. As I regain my strength and take back what's mine, I require someone by my side, someone I can rely on to enforce my will. I had been keeping my eye on you for quite some time, I knew you were worthy of my essence from the moment I was brought back to this plane of existence. Without it, you would not have survived your last encounter with the Doom Slayer. Each time you have been resurrected, he has done nothing but trample over your existence as he has done all of my other creations."
The Marauder didn't seem quite satisfied with that explanation, avoiding eye contact as he was collecting his thoughts. The Marauder looked up once more before asking his master, "Why do I hate the Doom Slayer? Every time I try to remember, it's as if something is preventing me from remembering my past."
"The Khan Maykr restricted your memories upon resurrecting you and your squad. She kept your rage and selective parts of your history so you can remain loyal to her cause. With her absence, your memories will come back to you in due time. For now, take your squad of Night Sentinels and continue to conquer more worlds, Xernex." The Marauder was taken aback by the name but brushed his shock aside to bow and follow with his master's orders because there was work to do.
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It was in the middle of the night and the demons were on the hunt for some prey. A group of four demons sat atop the rooftop of a tall building within the village they were in. They were on the lookout for something. One of the demons grabbed the group's attention as he pointed to some commotion down below. They gathered up to take a peak and that's when they saw a man sneaking out of a building with a woman tied up and blindfolded being carried on his shoulder. It looked as if she was being kidnapped, the woman tried to cry out but she was gagged so she couldn't make much sound. The demons nodded towards one another and leapt down from the buildings and surrounded the man in a circle.
The man looked terrified to see four demons surrounding him as he shouted for everyone to hear, "Ahh! Demons!" One of the four demons, a young man with spiky, shoulder-length brown hair, wearing torn clothing commanded the others while pointing to the man:
"Tear him apart, boys! Renju, free the girl." Renju, who's attire was similar to that of his leader, had little to no hair on his head and his face was covered from the top down in freckles. Renju waited for his comrades to tackle the man and drop the woman in the process. As they got to work feasting upon the criminal, Renju got to work at undoing the woman's constraints. He occasionally looked up while doing so and drooled upon seeing so much blood spill from the man's corpse as his friends tore into the organs. Once the woman was freed, Renju spoke with a softer tone to soothe the woman, "It's alright, you're safe now."
Expectedly, the woman screamed just the same as she cried out, "You're a demon!" She scrambled to her feet and ran away as fast as she should. Renju looked defeated, he sighed out of disappointment as he pushed himself onto his feet and waited for his comrades. Once they were done eating, the leader, Sato, assured Renju by placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder and said to him, "It's alright, Renju, we knew this was going to happen. Let's just be happy that we did some good and get out of here." Renju nodded in agreement as the demons quickly fled the scene before they could stir up any more trouble.
